Marco Vitruvius Pollio (c. 80–70 BC – c.15 BC) was an architect and engineer of the time of Caesar and Augustus. His multi-volume work entitled De Architectura was rediscovered in the Renaissance and used as a basis for the architectural culture.

Vitruvius discussions includes the relationships in proportional measures between a part of the building and its whole; and the observations on the proportions of the human figure, accompanied by graphs that demonstrate the harmony of the human body by virtue of the possibility of inscribing it in perfect geometric figures such as the circle and the square, which Leonardo da Vinci studied by drawing a Vitruvian man / enciclopedia Treccani.